It has been a long journey. You all know that all too well since you have been so patient and read all of my 57 (so far...) articles on the restoration process.
We are now approaching the very end of the project. The bike is very soon completed and the restoration of it concluded.
Today I finished it visually.
The wind screen got back on. Or rather, the new one did...
The decals also got ready today and I had a great day in the garage finishing up this and that and putting the sponsor decals on one by one. Tricky but rewarding!
This day actually started yesterday evening at Tullarn´s when I went to get my two (!) new wind screens.
This is one of the people that has made this project possible at all.
Ingvar is a very talented and friendly guy. I guess he is one of the best manufacturers of fairings and wind screens in Sweden. He makes these things from scratch from the best quality plexi glass you can find. It is a totally manual process involving a mold, a heated sheet of plexi glass and compressed air to blow it up as a "bubble".
It is then possible to shape the wind screen and grind the edges for smoothness and cut it to size. A total manual process and very time consuming. Tullar´n is a Godsend for us motorcycle enthusiasts here in Stockholm. My restoration of the H1R wouldn´t have been possible without him!
Since I am such a "Jackass" at drilling wind screens he gave me a piece of plexi glass to practice on.
I guess he didn´t want to make any more screens for me...
Hopefully I won´t have to bother him any more, at least not on this build!
Back home I made an inventory of my ceramic tile drill bits.
6, 8 and 10mm.
Hmm, 6 mm might work just fine...
It did not. I had to go get another set of drill bits.
Oh well, a nice day for a motorcycle ride to the hardware store.
Not a bad option. The ceramic tile drill bits have evolved quite a bit since I bought mine. Nowadays they have 4 cutting edges compared to two on my old ones. I got two sizes, 5 mm and 5,5 mm. I test drilled both and decided to go with the 5,5 mm to avoid tensions in the glass from the 5 mm screws.
Back to adjusting and fastening the screen to the fairing with my clamps. I decided to use as many of them as I could fit to make sure I got the wind screen at the exact correct place before drilling.
Looks centered and symmetric to me.
Getting closer to where it is supposed to be.
It is time consuming to change the location, get the rear ends back in place and then try to press it forward and see where the center part of the screen ends up.
The first hole to drill is the most forward one. It is also the most difficult one to fit the screw through. The tacho is in the way...
The right side getting closer to where it needs to be. You need to get enough glass for the drilling and still you want as much of the glass as possible over the edge of the fairing. And preferably equal on both sides.
Better be thorough!
And the left side. It is easy to check each side and compare it to the other and if necessary loosen the clamp and adjust the screen this or that way.
Soon it is time to do the drilling...
This is as good as I could get it it.
Let´s just try and get it drilled once and for all!
After that victorious drilling and fastening of the wind screen I felt brave enough to start working on the decals and start numbers.
I know this is extremely important. If these figures, numbers or logos get on there in a crooked or oblique way it would make the whole thing look bad.
Better be very thorough here and take my time. At least I had the presence of mind to order extra decals. I could fail at least a couple of times doing this. Better safe than sorry!
My choice of race to replicate the bike from is very well known by now. 26 of July 1970. The day "ESSO" won the Swedish GP at Anderstorp. He used start number "12" and had a very special set of sponsor decals and texts on his bike.
The "12" up front seemed like a good starting point.
To the right here I have mocked them up using small pieces of masking tape to get them where I want them. This lookes OK!
I realize I have to show you what I am looking for here and what I want to achieve.
On the left here is "ESSO" ready ta start at the Swedish GP on the H1R.
The decals are clearly visible and I have tried my best to replicate them one by one.
One of my issues is the paint. Of course it is impossible to get the paint exactly the same as it was here. Johnny did a great job, but when it comes to placing the decals there will be differences. That is something I will have to accept and try to do the best of.
This picture provided quite a few good clues on the placement of the decals.
I gave these pictures to Gustav at Södermalms snabbkopiering and he did a great job producing these sponsor decals.
I was a bit picky and he had to change some of them a few times but he came through, big time!
Anyway, back to the bike!
The tricky part is getting them on exactly where you had them taped. I used a sharp pencil to make a few outlines so I would know where to start with each number.
You attach it at one point and then press it on making sure all air bubbles get out.
Then you just simply pull off the lighter paper and the thin vinyl sticker stays on the surface. Very rewarding but also very tricky!
Yeah, not too bad! That will do just fine.
I am pretty sure "ESSO" used a yellow background on his number plates. I even bought some yellow vinyl sheet decals to cut them, but I decided not to. It is too difficult to get those large round decals on to such a rounded surface like this fairing. I know it would look like shit, so I opted out on that one. White it will stay and be!
Next was the "BP" logo. "ESSO" worked with BP on the tracks and even sold gas to other drivers while competing. He also sold gas during car races and took lots of cool pictures while fueling for famous race car drivers. I might get back to that in the race blog later on.
The important thing here was to get the BP shield lined up with the "KAWASAKI" text on the tank. I used that logo as a reference for all the decals on the sides of the fairing. My though here was that it would look best if all horisontal lines coincided with the KAWASAKI on the tank.
Right or wrong? I have no clue, but it was my decision...
BP-KAWASAKI RACING was next.
The Dunlop decal is in place and here I´m trying out the location for the "CHAMPION" decal at the bottom of the number plate.
Not so good. It needs to align with the "DUNLOP" and the tank logo. It has to go down on the left side...
On and off, on and off...
We are getting there...
The H2 in the background is my latest purchase! I bought that to console myself after my lung disease.... Boy, do I feel better!!
And finally the "12" numbers on the sides of the bike.
It is getting done!
My plan today was to get the fairing completely done and ready so I could take it off the bike and leave it off until I arrive at the show on thursday.
I achieved that goal!
First a little photo session outside the garage. I tried to take a few pictures in approximately the same angle I took the very first pictures of the bike three years ago. I´ll just show you the pictures, full size here. Enjoy the (visually) completed H1R:
Tomorrow´s mission is to get it ready to start. I made a few preparations today for leakage checking...
I filled the two stroke oil tank behind the seat with Castrol POWER 1 (TTS) two stroke oil. This is an oil I´ve used on all triples so far with no issues at all.
It looked leakage tight so far. We´ll see tomorrow how it holds up?!
So far, so good....
I know, the line should be black rubber, but this is what I had at home right now, so it´ll do.
I kind of like the red appearance of the oil line by the frame. Looks cool!
I also mixed 10 Liters of 4,5% premix fuel with 102 octane ASPEN R racing fuel and filled the aluminum tank to check that one for leakages.
Tomorrow will be an exciting day.....
Let´s end this post with one of the first pictures three years ago. it does look a little bit different now, right?
Stay tuned for the few last articles of this blog the coming days.
Thanks for reading, guys!
/Per
We are now approaching the very end of the project. The bike is very soon completed and the restoration of it concluded.
Today I finished it visually.
The wind screen got back on. Or rather, the new one did...
The decals also got ready today and I had a great day in the garage finishing up this and that and putting the sponsor decals on one by one. Tricky but rewarding!
This is one of the people that has made this project possible at all.
Ingvar is a very talented and friendly guy. I guess he is one of the best manufacturers of fairings and wind screens in Sweden. He makes these things from scratch from the best quality plexi glass you can find. It is a totally manual process involving a mold, a heated sheet of plexi glass and compressed air to blow it up as a "bubble".
It is then possible to shape the wind screen and grind the edges for smoothness and cut it to size. A total manual process and very time consuming. Tullar´n is a Godsend for us motorcycle enthusiasts here in Stockholm. My restoration of the H1R wouldn´t have been possible without him!
I guess he didn´t want to make any more screens for me...
Hopefully I won´t have to bother him any more, at least not on this build!
6, 8 and 10mm.
Hmm, 6 mm might work just fine...
It did not. I had to go get another set of drill bits.
Oh well, a nice day for a motorcycle ride to the hardware store.
Getting closer to where it is supposed to be.
It is time consuming to change the location, get the rear ends back in place and then try to press it forward and see where the center part of the screen ends up.
The first hole to drill is the most forward one. It is also the most difficult one to fit the screw through. The tacho is in the way...
Better be thorough!
Soon it is time to do the drilling...
Let´s just try and get it drilled once and for all!
I know this is extremely important. If these figures, numbers or logos get on there in a crooked or oblique way it would make the whole thing look bad.
Better be very thorough here and take my time. At least I had the presence of mind to order extra decals. I could fail at least a couple of times doing this. Better safe than sorry!
The "12" up front seemed like a good starting point.
To the right here I have mocked them up using small pieces of masking tape to get them where I want them. This lookes OK!
On the left here is "ESSO" ready ta start at the Swedish GP on the H1R.
The decals are clearly visible and I have tried my best to replicate them one by one.
One of my issues is the paint. Of course it is impossible to get the paint exactly the same as it was here. Johnny did a great job, but when it comes to placing the decals there will be differences. That is something I will have to accept and try to do the best of.
I gave these pictures to Gustav at Södermalms snabbkopiering and he did a great job producing these sponsor decals.
I was a bit picky and he had to change some of them a few times but he came through, big time!
Anyway, back to the bike!
You attach it at one point and then press it on making sure all air bubbles get out.
Then you just simply pull off the lighter paper and the thin vinyl sticker stays on the surface. Very rewarding but also very tricky!
I am pretty sure "ESSO" used a yellow background on his number plates. I even bought some yellow vinyl sheet decals to cut them, but I decided not to. It is too difficult to get those large round decals on to such a rounded surface like this fairing. I know it would look like shit, so I opted out on that one. White it will stay and be!
The important thing here was to get the BP shield lined up with the "KAWASAKI" text on the tank. I used that logo as a reference for all the decals on the sides of the fairing. My though here was that it would look best if all horisontal lines coincided with the KAWASAKI on the tank.
Right or wrong? I have no clue, but it was my decision...
Not so good. It needs to align with the "DUNLOP" and the tank logo. It has to go down on the left side...
On and off, on and off...
The H2 in the background is my latest purchase! I bought that to console myself after my lung disease.... Boy, do I feel better!!
It is getting done!
My plan today was to get the fairing completely done and ready so I could take it off the bike and leave it off until I arrive at the show on thursday.
I achieved that goal!
First a little photo session outside the garage. I tried to take a few pictures in approximately the same angle I took the very first pictures of the bike three years ago. I´ll just show you the pictures, full size here. Enjoy the (visually) completed H1R:
I filled the two stroke oil tank behind the seat with Castrol POWER 1 (TTS) two stroke oil. This is an oil I´ve used on all triples so far with no issues at all.
It looked leakage tight so far. We´ll see tomorrow how it holds up?!
I kind of like the red appearance of the oil line by the frame. Looks cool!
I also mixed 10 Liters of 4,5% premix fuel with 102 octane ASPEN R racing fuel and filled the aluminum tank to check that one for leakages.
Tomorrow will be an exciting day.....
Let´s end this post with one of the first pictures three years ago. it does look a little bit different now, right?
Stay tuned for the few last articles of this blog the coming days.
Thanks for reading, guys!
/Per
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SvaraRadera